This invention relates to roof care and replacement. More particularly, it relates to a method of inspecting roof covering to determine the thickness of the covering.
It is common practice to xe2x80x9cre-roofxe2x80x9d a house or other building by installing a new roof over the old roof. It is also common practice to do this several times. Eventually, it becomes necessary to remove all of the old roof covering and start over.
There is a need for determining in an easy way the number of layers and the condition of the roof covering without doing much damage to the roof covering in the process. An object of this invention is to provide a method and tool for inspecting a roof to determine the number of existing layers by use of a simple tool that allows the inspection to be made without much damage to the roof covering.
The present invention includes providing a tool that has a tubular body formed by a cylindrical wall having a lower end cutting edge surrounding an inlet leading into a cylindrical inner space inside the body. A handle is provided and is connected to the body. The lower end cutting edge is placed against a roof covering at a location where it is desired to inspect the roof covering. Then, the tool is pushed endwise towards the roof covering while at the same time the handle is turned to rotate the tool and cause the lower end cutting edge to cut a circular kerf in the roof covering. Endwise movement and rotation of the tool are continued until the lower end cutting edge has cut through the roof covering and a disc shaped sample of the roof covering is within the inner space of the tool body. Then, the tool with the roof covering sample inside, is moved out from the roof covering. This leaves an opening in the roof covering. Next, a pusher is used to push the roof covering sample out from the tool. Once accessible, the roof covering sample is inspected to determine the thickness of the roof covering. The sample discloses the number of existing layers of the roof covering.
In preferred form, the lower end cutting edge includes saw teeth constructed and oriented to cut a circular kerf when the tool is rotated.
According to an aspect of the invention, the sample opening is closed or sealed by placing a sealing mastic in the opening.
Another aspect of the invention is to provide the tubular body with diametrically opposed handle openings in the cylindrical wall. A two part handle is used. Each handle part has a main body with a diameter that is larger than the diameter of the openings in the cylindrical wall. One of the handle parts is provided with an axial socket that is in smaller diameter than the openings in the cylindrical wall. The other handle part is provided with an axial extension that is also smaller in diameter than the openings in the cylindrical wall. The inner end of the handle part that includes the socket is positioned against the cylindrical wall with the socket in alignment with the openings in the cylindrical wall. The axial extension on the other handle part is inserted from the other wall openings in the side of the cylindrical wall, first laterally through the tubular body, and then into the axial socket in the first handle part. Once the axial extension has been started in the socket opening, the handle parts are moved together and against the tubular body until the inner end portions of the handle parts are substantially against opposite wall portions of the tubular body.
A further aspect of the invention comprises pulling the two handle parts apart and separating them from the tubular body after the tool and roof covering sample have been removed from the roof covering. Following this separation, the axial extension of the second handle part is inserted into the axial socket of the first handle part. The two handle parts are moved relatively together to move the axial extension into the axial socket and move the inner end portions of the handle parts together. Once the handle parts are united, they may be used as the pusher for pushing the roof covering sample out from the tool.